


Stars

by dozmuffinxc



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, blupjeans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-31 06:22:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21441646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dozmuffinxc/pseuds/dozmuffinxc
Summary: Barry has an unhealthy fear of the dark, and the Starblaster's lights just went out.
Relationships: Barry Bluejeans/Lup
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	Stars

**Author's Note:**

> This ficlet is dedicated to all of the beautiful souls who donated to my Ko-Fi to help Silas the cat get an outdoor cat shelter.

It is just after midnight when all of the lights on the ‘Blaster go out. Most of the crew is already asleep, but Barry and Lup are burning the proverbial oil in the lab, hard at work on a set of promising slides that they hope will contain clues to the whereabouts of the Light on this plane. As the room is engulfed in thick, suffocating darkness, Barry shudders and squeezes his eyes shut, praying to any god who will hear him for the generators to kick on. 

“Aw _shit_,” he hears Lup hiss somewhere to his right. The fact that he can’t tell how far away she is sets his teeth on edge. “What the hell! Are you OK, babe?”

“Y-yeah,” Barry replies, his voice unnaturally high. He winces as the stutter that he is usually able to keep under control slips out. At least Lup can’t see how much he’s blushing.

“Cap’ll have us back up and running in no time,” she assures him, and as she speaks, her voice gets louder as she inches her way towards him in the dark. Barry feels the brush of her fingertips on his shoulder and before he can stop himself, he’s reaching out to grab her hands in his own sweaty fists, pulling her into his embrace as though _she’s_ the one who needs reassuring.

Lup murmurs gentle reassurances into his ear, her breath warm against the side of his face, and he forces himself to relax – just a bit – with his head on her shoulder. They stay like this for a few minutes, waiting for the buzz of the generator, but there’s only silence and the sound of the ship settling around them as their crewmates sleep on, oblivious.

“Let’s get out of here,” Lup says suddenly, drawing back just far enough to grab his hand and pull him towards the door to the lab. It’s still as dark as pitch, but they both know this room like the back of their hands, and it’s easy enough to maneuver around equipment and desks without incident. The hallway beyond is just as dark, but there’s light at the end of the passageway, and they hurry towards it like moths to a flame. 

The common room seems unnaturally bright after the inky blackness of the lab; the wall-to-wall window looks out on a cloudless sky, and the light of a million stars overhead illuminates the collection shabby couches and lounge chairs where the crew spends most of their down-time. Lup pulls Barry along until they’re right in front of the glass and then, to his surprise, she plops down on the carpet and lies back with her face towards the heavens.

“Come watch the stars with me,” Lup says, patting the floor at her side and smiling up at him with just the right mix of affection and mischief. Barry eases himself down next to her, the musty smell of the carpet mingling with Lup’s perfume.

The constellations in this world are different from the ones back home, but Davenport has pointed out the major clusters to them, eager to have the entire crew trained in navigation in case their mission goes poorly before the year is up. Barry only half paid attention during these lectures, but Lup, it seems, was a surprisingly apt student.

“There’s the Sickle Wielder,” she says, her hand fluttering above them to gesture at a curved constellation in the eastern skies. “And look! I think… yeah, there’s the Great Eye. Did you know the central star isn’t actually a star at all – it’s a planet! You can tell because it doesn’t flicker like the other stars and it has kind of a reddish hue.”

Barry smiles as his muscles finally relax and all of the tension he was carrying in his shoulders eases. The sound of Lup’s voice is like a tonic to his nerves, and before he realizes it, his eyes start to drift shut under the weight of his exhaustion.

“That one’s my favorite,” Lup is saying, pointing out a constellation directly overhead, “the one that looks like twin hearts. It’s the—”

“The lovers,” Barry finishes for her, fighting back a yawn. Lup turns her head towards him, the light of the stars setting her golden eyes ablaze, and she smiles fondly.

“You would remember that one,” she teases, but her voice is gentle and her hand has found his where it rests on the carpet in the space between their bodies. Their fingers twine, and together, they stare back up at the stars, content to leave each other to their thoughts as the heavens complete their slow rotation far above their heads.

Barry doesn’t know when he fell asleep, just that he wakes the next morning with a pillow under his head and a blanket tucked around his shoulders. Lup is gone, but there are inviting sounds of clanking dishes from the kitchen next door, and the light of morning has chased away all of the shadows of the night before.


End file.
